SIERRA MADRE – A voice from the police scanner airwaves echoed through Fire Station No. 1 Friday morning, welcoming Sierra Madre as the last city in Los Angeles County to have its own paramedics.

The announcement from a dispatcher in the Verdugo Fire Communications Center in Glendale was greeted with applause by the roughly 75 people gathered at the Sierra Madre fire station for inauguration of the new paramedic program.

Although the Sierra Madre All-Volunteer Fire Department has had emergency medical service since 1971, it has lacked advanced life support, such as automated external defibrillators and medication for those with heart attacks or diabetes.

“Paramedics can do life-saving procedures immediately based on field diagnoses,” said Greg Christmas, the department’s paramedic coordinator and captain. “We’re making a giant leap forward.”

In September, the City Council authorized the city’s first paramedic program, which would operate much like the model created by La Habra Heights fire Chief John Nielsen.

The La Habra Heights Fire Department has hired a pool of 50 paramedics from ambulance services and other sources as part-time employees of the city’s fire department to provide residents with advanced life support. The medics can work up to two 24-hour shifts a month, said Sabrina Somma, the department’s paramedic coordinator.

The program costs La Habra Heights about $190,000 per year, Nielsen has said.

Mayor Enid Joffe noted that the welcoming of the new paramedic program coincides with Sierra Madre’s centennial.

“This is a very proud moment for all of us, one that we’ve waited for for many years,” she said to those gathered Friday.